Numbers might be useful in this conversation. Bar Harbor (pop. 5,500) now has more than 3,500 Lodging rooms (B&Bs, hotels, motels) and over 650 Vacation Rentals (many whole houses). We don't know how many houses are owned by employers, waiting for the "season" to be occupied again.
Bar Harbor is not going to be able to come up with 616 new housing units by 2033. Most likely off island towns will need to make up the numbers.
“Most of Bar Harbor’s parcels are already developed, and a good portion of it is wetlands, so that’s why they said this is the need, but you need to work regionally,” Martinez explained. “The study addresses this exactly, and that’s why we’ve started doing a lot more regional work.”
Page 40 of the 2007 comp. plan has the water and sewerage strategies. Please see below.
This meeting brought up 3 areas of possible growth, other than building "up" in the downtown.
1-Hulls Cove- ledge or where much of the open land is owned by a soil contractor or their family.
2- Hadley Point which is a pretty steep drop to the ocean and like many, ledgey, hill areas on the island you wonder if your neighbor's septic system is going to end up coming out of your water tap.
3- Town Hill. Why don't we read what the Town Hill residents came up with in their own comprehensive plan? I drove all around the subdivisions there this weekend. Lots of ledge and dense trees, continually falling down hill to Northeast Creek.
The Town of Bar Harbor has hired water plans in the past. They say we have good water sources but other than, town water and sewer, they say we could have some big problems off of this system.
They describe "water table" but we don't have that, we have cracked ledge mostly.
The Stratex study of 2007, suggested below and more:
• regulations for periodic water quality testing and maintenance and land management to preserve groundwater quality and quantity including loss of recharge; enhanced infiltration; lowering the water table beyond property boundaries; staying within safe yields; monitoring well installation, water quality in wells, and long-term groundwater level trends; preventing salt water intrusions, degradations from septic systems, and contaminations from household products.
• Finally, Stratex recommends a number of action steps, including:
• setting up a data base of wells and problem areas, linked to a GIS,
• registering new wells,
• developing a ground water model,
• regularly reviewing water quality test data;
• evaluating other potential threats to hydrogeologic resources,
• preventing development on vulnerable areas,
• GIS mapping of wells, the water supply system, vulnerable areas, aquifer
• recharge areas, and rate of residential growth, and
• developing procedures for developers to perform a hydrogeologic analysis,
• and optimizing siting of wells, and refining the build-out analysis.”
Will Bar Harbor actually be able to preform the above suggestions?
Ask people who know of septic systems that have failed or wells that have run dry near them. You can't build where there is no sure safe water.
I really don't think there should be any 14 people per building or lot unless the lot can be connected to town water and sewer.
I'm concerned about the warrants on Bar Harbor zoning changes being discussed related to increasing housing densities.
I was on the Bar Harbor Planning Board for more than 8 years. We did a lot of adjudicating subdivisions and site plans but planning was left to 1-2 extra meetings a year.
We do need more housing but as you will see below the major question is carrying capacity.
Will we have enough safe drinking water and septic systems?
Can we check present systems to make sure they are safe?
Housing solutions?
What septic systems have failed?
Has septic system failure been recorded?
Have all septic systems been analyzed for their appropriateness to modern standards?
Should we connect more parts of town to town water and sewer?
See goals from the 2007 comp plan below.
Are the designated growth areas a dream?
Since the development of Acadia National Park, Bar Harbor housing has always been between a rock(ledge), the park and a wet place. We either have wetlands, vernal pools, streams , lakes or the ocean as wet spots which we can't build over for housing.
We are in short supply of flat land with a few feet of soil on it or anything like a water table under it.
Page 459 of the Bar Harbor 2007, Comprehensive Plan shows goals to be met in the next 10 year period, 2017.
See below.
It's now, 2024, 17th years have past since 2007.
See below the State of Maine's designated growth area legislation.
There is an article of the 2011 Town Hill Comprehensive plan being revived. What ever happened to the voices of the people from Town Hill?
At the end of Grant Park the southern granite steps leading to the beach are still there. The northern steps have come undone and slipped apart onto the beach.
The retaining wall holding the rose garden and the patio with benches has come down and the filter fabric holding the soil in place is ripped and pushed out of the way leaving the garden soil exposed to the next storm. Next storm might take the garden and the patio.
There has been discussion about who is responsible for maintaining the shore path, the land owners, the Village Improvement Association, the Town of Bar Barbor?
Still to be determined, where does the money come from?
Does it come from donations, taxes, cruise ship fees, parking fees, etc.?
Numbers might be useful in this conversation. Bar Harbor (pop. 5,500) now has more than 3,500 Lodging rooms (B&Bs, hotels, motels) and over 650 Vacation Rentals (many whole houses). We don't know how many houses are owned by employers, waiting for the "season" to be occupied again.
Zoning Part 2. Part 1 is below, read that first.
Town Hill?
https://www.ellsworthamerican.com/news/town-hill-plan-revived/article_643453c4-4139-5357-98a9-bb57de14c9a3.html
Town Hill is being designated as a "designated growth area" and may very well not want to become one!
An Islander article on Bar Harbor not able to meet its housing goal from the May 23, 2023 updated Dec. 21, 2023.
https://www.mdislander.com/news/politics/bar-harbors-housing-goals-may-be-unrealistic/article_181cc0f2-9ab5-11ee-a8b4-7f684c4aa0b5.html
Bar Harbor's housing goals may be unrealistic
• By Malachy Flynn
Bar Harbor is not going to be able to come up with 616 new housing units by 2033. Most likely off island towns will need to make up the numbers.
“Most of Bar Harbor’s parcels are already developed, and a good portion of it is wetlands, so that’s why they said this is the need, but you need to work regionally,” Martinez explained. “The study addresses this exactly, and that’s why we’ve started doing a lot more regional work.”
Page 40 of the 2007 comp. plan has the water and sewerage strategies. Please see below.
Where will things be built?
There are water possibilities and problems!
https://barharborstory.com/2023/07/23/where-will-all-the-houses-go/
Please see the map below.
This meeting brought up 3 areas of possible growth, other than building "up" in the downtown.
1-Hulls Cove- ledge or where much of the open land is owned by a soil contractor or their family.
2- Hadley Point which is a pretty steep drop to the ocean and like many, ledgey, hill areas on the island you wonder if your neighbor's septic system is going to end up coming out of your water tap.
3- Town Hill. Why don't we read what the Town Hill residents came up with in their own comprehensive plan? I drove all around the subdivisions there this weekend. Lots of ledge and dense trees, continually falling down hill to Northeast Creek.
The Town of Bar Harbor has hired water plans in the past. They say we have good water sources but other than, town water and sewer, they say we could have some big problems off of this system.
They describe "water table" but we don't have that, we have cracked ledge mostly.
The Stratex study of 2007, suggested below and more:
• regulations for periodic water quality testing and maintenance and land management to preserve groundwater quality and quantity including loss of recharge; enhanced infiltration; lowering the water table beyond property boundaries; staying within safe yields; monitoring well installation, water quality in wells, and long-term groundwater level trends; preventing salt water intrusions, degradations from septic systems, and contaminations from household products.
• Finally, Stratex recommends a number of action steps, including:
• setting up a data base of wells and problem areas, linked to a GIS,
• registering new wells,
• developing a ground water model,
• regularly reviewing water quality test data;
• evaluating other potential threats to hydrogeologic resources,
• preventing development on vulnerable areas,
• GIS mapping of wells, the water supply system, vulnerable areas, aquifer
• recharge areas, and rate of residential growth, and
• developing procedures for developers to perform a hydrogeologic analysis,
• and optimizing siting of wells, and refining the build-out analysis.”
Will Bar Harbor actually be able to preform the above suggestions?
Ask people who know of septic systems that have failed or wells that have run dry near them. You can't build where there is no sure safe water.
Zoning, 14 people per building, water and sewer?
I really don't think there should be any 14 people per building or lot unless the lot can be connected to town water and sewer.
I'm concerned about the warrants on Bar Harbor zoning changes being discussed related to increasing housing densities.
I was on the Bar Harbor Planning Board for more than 8 years. We did a lot of adjudicating subdivisions and site plans but planning was left to 1-2 extra meetings a year.
We do need more housing but as you will see below the major question is carrying capacity.
Will we have enough safe drinking water and septic systems?
Can we check present systems to make sure they are safe?
Housing solutions?
What septic systems have failed?
Has septic system failure been recorded?
Have all septic systems been analyzed for their appropriateness to modern standards?
Should we connect more parts of town to town water and sewer?
See goals from the 2007 comp plan below.
Are the designated growth areas a dream?
Since the development of Acadia National Park, Bar Harbor housing has always been between a rock(ledge), the park and a wet place. We either have wetlands, vernal pools, streams , lakes or the ocean as wet spots which we can't build over for housing.
We are in short supply of flat land with a few feet of soil on it or anything like a water table under it.
Page 459 of the Bar Harbor 2007, Comprehensive Plan shows goals to be met in the next 10 year period, 2017.
See below.
It's now, 2024, 17th years have past since 2007.
See below the State of Maine's designated growth area legislation.
There is an article of the 2011 Town Hill Comprehensive plan being revived. What ever happened to the voices of the people from Town Hill?
https://www.ellsworthamerican.com/news/town-hill-plan-revived/article_643453c4-4139-5357-98a9-bb57de14c9a3.html
Town Hill is being designated as a "designated growth area" and may very well not want to become one!
Storm damage.
At the end of Grant Park the southern granite steps leading to the beach are still there. The northern steps have come undone and slipped apart onto the beach.
The retaining wall holding the rose garden and the patio with benches has come down and the filter fabric holding the soil in place is ripped and pushed out of the way leaving the garden soil exposed to the next storm. Next storm might take the garden and the patio.
There has been discussion about who is responsible for maintaining the shore path, the land owners, the Village Improvement Association, the Town of Bar Barbor?
Still to be determined, where does the money come from?
Does it come from donations, taxes, cruise ship fees, parking fees, etc.?